Georgia Southern University Athletics

Olivia Gaines begins her first season as an assistant coach for Georgia Southern women's basketball in 2023-24.

Gaines comes to Statesboro after serving as the head coach at Richard Bland College, a NJCAA institution in Virginia, for the 2022-23 season. She led the inaugural women's basketball team at RBC to an NJCAA Division II National Runner-Up finish as the Statesmen went 29-3 overall and 16-2 in Region 10 competition. 

The 2013 National Junior College Player of the Year at Louisburg College and an integral member of the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team that advanced to the 2015 Division I NCAA Final Four, Gaines has an impressive basketball resume both as a player and a coach. Her playing career includes an NJCAA Division II national championship at Louisburg in 2013, where she averaged 18.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.5 steals per game in leading the Hurricanes to a 32-3 record and subsequent NJCAA All-America honors. Her South Carolina teams appeared in the 2014 NCAA Sweet 16 and won a pair of Southeastern Conference Championships in 2014 and 2015. 

Prior to RBC, Gaines served as head coach at USC Salkehatchie, where Gaines took over the women’s program at Salkehatchie in the 2020-21 season. She was at the helm of a dream season for the Lady Indians where they finished 20-2 overall after going 16-0 in the regular season and 12-0 in NJCAA Region X. In her first season as a head coach at the junior college level, Gaines claimed the Region X Championship and lead the Lady Indians to the NJCAA D-II National Championships in North Carolina, which includes a Region 10 championship and a 5th place finish in the NJCAA Division II National Championship. For her efforts, Gaines was named the Region 10 Coach of the Year.  

Before her stint at USC Salkehatchie, Gaines was an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Vassar College with an overall record of 21-7. Division II Northwestern Oklahoma State University 19-9, and head coaching positions at three South Carolina high schools (Andrew Jackson, Fort Dorchester, Cross while finishing all seasons with 20 or more wins.

A native of Chester, S.C., Gaines is a 2013 graduate of Louisburg College where she earned her Associate’s Degree in Sociology. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from South Carolina in 2015. She is a 2011 graduate of Chester Senior High School and earned All-State honors her final season.